Starting this year, Prestige Recruitment Group and our sister brand Zoot Recruit have been running a bespoke Training Academy. With our HR, Training and Systems Manager Sarah Kay being the first point of call within the academy, we caught up with her to ask her about this exciting new venture.
Sarah Kay - Our HR, Training and Systems Manager
‘The Training Academy is such an exciting enterprise and I can’t wait to recruit new employees to join us. As we continue to develop as a company, we are recruiting to match our growth and so we are running quarterly training programs across our offices.
Our latest training is going to be running in the North, where we will be hiring, training and mentoring some new employees. It’s such a great opportunity for someone to come in as a recruitment coordinator and develop into a recruitment consultant.
The best thing about our Training Academy is that we understand the needs of an individual, and so using a thoroughly considered approach; all of our training is tailored to the employee’s individual needs.
The training itself is constructed of seven different phases, which are thorough in ensuring every employee develops their knowledge and understanding of our company and the recruitment industry. The seven phases we have included are induction and orientation, candidate control and engagement, client interview control, how to take a vacancy, vacancy control, business development and time management. Although we follow a structure, the package we offer is very bespoke to the individual as we allow each person to develop their knowledge in the way that best suits them. We really do understand that different methods will work for different people.
Firstly, the training starts in the ‘classroom’ as such where we use a variety of interactive methods to teach our employees everything that they need to know. By week three, we aim to have every person submerged into the company, using what they’ve learnt so far in action.
Candidate-driven at first, we want every employee to be communicating with our candidates to help them find jobs across a variety of industries. Through this, employees are rewarded with the knowledge that they are changing lives within just a few weeks of starting their career with us. These recruitment coordinator roles will then natural develop into sales, which is a vital element to the recruitment industry. We are excited about this – and we hope you are too! Although it may be scary for some within the Training Academy, all of their managers will offer the upmost care with me being here to support every single one of your needs.
This flexible training system and modules allows us to take on employees who have had no previous recruitment experience but are looking to achieve an amazing career within recruitment - all they need is the hunger to achieve, we will do the rest! Equally, when we recruit established Consultants, Managers and Directors, they have the comfort of knowing we will invest in the people who are working for them.
Our Training Academy really takes the strain out of training. We know that high level; high calibre achievers don't need generalised training. In fact, we love to learn from their experiences, as this allows us to expand our training with their knowledge. But, we are always there for them as well. If they ask for high-level bespoke training or help, we support them with the tools and training they need.
The whole ideology behind the Training Academy is to improve all business practices, which means the training doesn’t stop after you have become a fully-fledged member of staff. Workshop training will continue to run on going support and mentoring while understanding the importance of the individual in all aspects of the recruitment sector. By doing this, we are ensuring that each employee is knowledgeable in the latest trends and facts so that all of our team thoroughly understand the recruitment industry.
We want to give people opportunities. We want to help nurture people into their recruitment career and further educate those who have been in the industry a long time. The Training Academy is here to find the right candidates and mentor them.’